


BeChloe Week - What to do When You’re Melting

by RJRMovieFan



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Twenty questions, blackout - Freeform, heat wave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 13:57:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19975207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RJRMovieFan/pseuds/RJRMovieFan
Summary: When both are suffering a heat wave in New York City, without power, Chloe comes up with a game to pass the time. What will the questions reveal though?





	BeChloe Week - What to do When You’re Melting

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Seriously, I just can’t get them in on time. Ugh! It took me awhile to come up with the questions, especially with the timeframe I chose to put this story. This is my third entry into this year’s BeChloe Week, and it’s Post PP3. I hope you like.

* * *

“Chloe!” Beca whined tiredly “I’m melting!”

“You’re not the wicked witch of the west,” Chloe chuckled.

“No,” Beca groaned, “But I would appreciate someone tossing a bucket of water on me.”

“Wow,” Chloe exclaimed with mock surprise. “Did Beca Mitchell just make a movie reference?”

“Shut up, it’s too hot to make fun of me,” Beca whined some more. “Besides I dated Jesse and didn’t live under a rock.”

“True, you did know who David Guetta was,” Chloe teased. She purposely chose to ignore the reference to Jesse. She had no desire to remember those dark days.

Instead, she wanted to focus on having her favorite grumpy DJ, all to herself; even in this heat. She glanced over at the petite woman sprawled on their couch, and admired the view. Beca had already shed her black t-shirt and was now dressed only in a black lace bra and jeans shorts. Chloe knew she shouldn’t, but she did sneak a peek at Beca’s chest, which was slick with sweat beads. The redhead couldn’t help feeling like she was a prepubescent boy, lusting for her roommate.

“I’m Hot, Chloe!”

Beca’s shout shook Chloe from her less than honorable thoughts about her roommate.

It was hot. The last she had seen it reported, it was one hundred and one degrees outside with high humidity.

“Yeah, you are,” mumbled Chloe.

“What was that?” Beca lifted her arm, so she could look at Chloe.

“Umm-I said _I know_ , me too,” Chloe sighed, fanning herself with a free circular she had picked up at the subway station yesterday. She scrunched her nose when she noticed she was getting newsprint all over her sweat-damp hand, but she didn’t want to stop fanning herself.

“Hell, of a time for the air conditioning to go out,” Beca grumbled. Then a bit louder, as if reminding the gods, “It’s the hottest day of the year!”

“Which is why there’s no power,” Chloe reminded the petite woman. “Everyone in New York is turning up their air-conditioning, trying to keep cool.”

Beca grunted her acknowledgment and said, “It’ll only get worse when the sun sets and they start turning on lights, too. But we still complain when there’s a brownout. How do you stay so upbeat?”

Chloe shrugged. “Getting mad just makes me feel hotter.” Chloe slid down the wall she was leaning against to sit on the bare floorboards. They felt tacky against her bare legs from the heat and humidity, but still cooler than the cushions on the couch.

Beca slid down onto the floor sit beside Chloe. “Is it any cooler down here?”

Chloe responded with a lopsided smile and a shrug. “Maybe a little.” Then she got an idea, and jumped up. “Wait one second! I have an idea!”

“How can you move in this heat like that?”

Chloe didn’t answer, but came back with a folded sheet in her hands, and a satisfied grin on her face. With a wink and a flourish, she spread the sheet out over the floor. She then settled back down, patting the floor next to her.

Beca rolled her eyes, but also smiled as she settled next to the redhead.

Chloe sighed. “It’s too bad we can’t run a fan. It would help at least a little.”

Beca opened her eyes, and facepalmed so hard Chloe was worried for her young friend. “Are you okay?”

Beca looked at Chloe and scrunched her face in embarrassment. “I am such an idiot!”

Chloe loves teasing the petite brunette, but she never likes it when Beca is self-deprecating. “No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am,” Beca admitted. “But, in my defense, the heat today has fried my brain.”

“I’m not following,” Chloe said.

“The fan, Chlo!”

“What about it?” The redhead began to wonder if her best friend was suffering from heat stroke.

“I have one. It was a gift from my dad when we moved in; I shoved it in the closet,” Beca said as she scrambled to her feet, and rushed over to the closet next to their tiny bathroom.

“So? It won’t work without electricity,” Chloe observed.

“You would be right, but it isn’t electric,” she said as she opened the closet, and began to rummage through everything. “It runs on batteries,” she said triumphantly. 

“Wait a minute; you’re sayin’ you’ve got a fan that doesn’t need electricity?”

“Not the plug-in kind,” Beca threw over her shoulder as she rummaged through the closet.

Rising to her feet, Chloe watched as Beca ran to the desk and grabbed the rolling chair, and wheeled it over. Chloe was a bit concerned when she watched her best friend trying to stand on the rolling chair, reaching into one of the boxes on the top shelf. She absolutely loves Beca, both openly as a best friend, and secretly in a more than friend type of way, and she thinks the petite brunette is absolutely incredible at so many things, but she also knows Beca is a bit of a klutz. With quick steps, she grabbed the chair just as it was starting to move.

Beca didn’t even notice, she was so focused.

“Ah-ha!” the brunette cried victoriously. “Got it!” Pulling the boxed-up fan out, she passed it down to Chloe

Beca stepped down and then took the box from Chloe. She pulled out the fan, and smiled triumphantly, until she flipped the on switch. Her face fell as the blades remained still. She looked at Chloe, pleadingly, “Please tell me you’ve got batteries for this.”

“Of course, I have!” Chloe shouted excitedly. She jumped up and ran to their catch-all drawer in their kitchen. “I always keep a stash of them in various sizes. Never know when they might be needed.” She opened the drawer containing the unopened packs of batteries, and asked, “How many does it take? Four or six?”

Beca checked. “Four, double A.”

“Perfect.” Chloe grabbed a pack of four double A batteries and closed the drawer. Gesturing towards the drawer as she walked back, Chloe said, “I’ve got a dozen batteries in this size, which should be more than enough until the power comes back on. I’ll stock up again tomorrow though, just in case.”

“Perfect!”

~~~~

Not long after Beca and Chloe were sprawled out on the sheet Chloe had laid out, with pillows under their heads, listening to music playing on Chloe’s iPad, basking in the slight breeze from Beca’s battery powered fan.

Chloe sighed as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with an old handkerchief. “We need to do something. I’m bored.”

“Like what? I don’t have the energy to do anything,” Beca said wearily.

The redhead lay still for a couple minutes, chewing on her bottom lip as she considered their options. She had to agree with Beca, she had no energy to really do anything. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head. It was so good; it gave her a burst of energy and enthusiasm. “Hey, I know what we should do,” Chloe said, raising herself up off of her pillow.

Beca doesn’t bother to lift her head, and grunts more than says, “What?”

“We should play Twenty Questions,” suggested Chloe with a wide grin.

“Oh, dear God, no,” Beca replied in a bone-weary voice.

“It’ll be fun,” Chloe offered.

“Don’t we know everything about each other? I mean we’ve been living with one another for seven years now,” Beca countered.

“That’s what will make it a challenge,” Chloe said, trying really hard to make that a selling point.

“Pass.”

“Oh, come on, Beca,” Chloe said with way too much cheer. “Let’s play.”

“Why?” Beca whined.

Chloe flashes her patented ear-to-ear smile, as she says, “Because it’ll be fun.”

“Need more,” Beca countered.

“Please,” Chloe said, making her eyes grow wide.

Squeezing her eyes shut so she couldn’t see Chloe’s puppy dog eyes. “Nope. I need more.”

“I’ll get ice cream from the corner bodega,” Chloe offered. Beca made a noncommittal sound.

“A pint of your favorite,” Chloe upped the ante. “Plus, whip cream, cherries, and fudge.”

Beca peeked at the redhead, who still had an adorable pout.

“Fine!”

~~~~

“So, you get it?” Chloe asked as she sat on the floor and handed Beca a can of ginger ale, before opening her own.

“Thank goodness these are still cool,” Beca said as she placed the cool can against her forehead.

“Yeah, but I hope the power comes on soon, or we’re going to be tossing food, and our budget is tight,” Chloe observed, as she held the can to her neck, just below the chin.

Chloe asked again, “So, are you cool with the rules.”

“Let me see,” Beca said, “twenty questions. No stopping. All questions counted, including follow-ups and those not intended to be counted.” Beca counted off her fingers as she said the list out loud. She gave the redhead a smirk, “How's that?”

“Great!” Even the summer’s oppressive heat couldn’t dampen the redhead’s demeanor. It was one of the many reasons Beca secretly loved the redhead.

“Okay, now…”

Beca cut in, “Before we start, do you mind if I ask a question that doesn’t count towards the twenty?”

“Sure” Chloe said, taking a sip of her ginger ale.

“Why are we doing this again? “

“Hmm… let me see,” Chloe said, tapping her index finger against her teeth. “Because number one, it’s like a thousand degrees outside. And number two, we have no power. And number three…” Chloe paused for dramatic effect.

“Three?” Beca prodded.

“And three, you love me.”

Beca’s face flushed. Chloe’s argument rendered her speechless, which only made it worse for the brunette. She knew Chloe noticed. And she knew the redhead would never let Beca forget it, either.

"Oh. You know I’m gonna need more than ginger ale.” The brunette jumped up, and ran to the fridge. She grabbed a bottle of sangria they had bought last week.”

“Okay, let’s get started,” Chloe said with a wink. “What’s your favorite thing about living in New York?”

“The continuous access to air conditioning,” Beca deadpanned. She handed Chloe a glass of the red sangria, then poured her own.

“Come on, be honest,” Chloe admonished, before taking a sip.

“Living with you,” Beca said honestly, in something just above a whisper. She then took a big gulp of the sangria.

Chloe blushed. “Thanks. Your turn.”

“Okay, umm-what’s your favorite thing about living in New York?”

“Come on, Becs, you can’t just repeat my questions.”

“Nothing in the rules said I couldn’t,” Beca replied, before sticking her tongue out. “Now, answer the question.”

“Fine, then my answer is the same as yours, living with you,” Chloe said. Both took bigger sips. “I guess it’s my turn?”

Beca nodded. “Yep.”

Chloe dipped at her drink, as she considered her question. Then hit on what she thought was a really good question. “What’s something you do when on tour, that nobody else knows about?”

“You’re not looking for a Stacie type answer, are you?” Beca asked before taking another drink.

“No,” Chloe shook her head, then playfully asked, “Is there a Stacie type answer?” Chloe took a drink, suddenly rather curious.

Beca blushed as she downed the rest of her glass. As she poured more, she said, “P-phsst-No.”

“I think you’re not being entirely honest with me,” Chloe said, then finished her drink. As she had Beca refill her glass, she said, “You still didn’t answer my original question. What’s something you do when on tour, that nobody else knows about?”

“Umm-I place a picture of all the Bellas on the nightstand every night.” Beca sipped her sangria as Chloe made an _‘awww’_ sound, then slipped in, “and a picture of you.”

Chloe was immediately silent. She asked, “Really?” Then gulped down half her glass of sangria.

“Yes.” Beca answered shyly, before finishing her glass, and pouring another. She held out the bottle and poured the last into Chloe’s glass. She then got up, a little off balanced and went back to the fridge. “This was really good.” She held up the now empty bottle. “We should get more.” Chloe nodded in reply. Beca gave a little cheer. “There’s another bottle, though this one’s a white sangria.”

“Let’s give it a try,” Chloe giggled.

Beca returned, new bottle in hand. “How many questions have you asked me?” she asked, trying to distract Chloe.

“That was my third,” Chloe answered. Then thought about it some more as she finished her glass. “No, my fourth. I asked ‘ _Really_ ’. Your question then.”

“So, when you’re at school, what makes you smile?”

“Umm…” Chloe took a sip to give herself a few seconds to think. She started to blush, then answered, “The whole aspect of learning.”

Beca studied the redhead. “I don’t think so.”

“Hmmm?”

“You wouldn’t blush with that answer, so fess up, and give your real answer,” Beca said.

Chloe’s blush grew darker. She mumbled into her glass, “When I get a text from you, rooting me on.”

It was Beca’s turn to blush. She took another sip.

~~~~

The two continued to ask questions, and drink, and they actually forgot the oppressive heat. They got through ten questions, and three bottles of wine in before they were derailed a bit as the alcohol and dehydration began to take its toll.

“How many questions is that?” Beca asked, her voice a bit tired from drinking.

“That doesn’t count as a question,” Chloe said.

“Okay, but really, umm-how many?”

“Not fair!” Chloe whined. “You're supposed to be counting. I think that's your tenth, unless you count the one when you asked me to answer your questions.”

“I think I might,” Beca said, tapping her chin, as if she was contemplating the question. “And I think you're stalling. Why don't you want to answer my question?”

“Because you haven’t asked one,” Chloe said.

“Oh yeah,” Beca said, as if she just realized she hadn’t. “I can’t think of one. You go…”

“You're not being fair,” Chloe said with what Beca thought was an adorable pout on her face. It made Beca smile, because even when Chloe’s complaining, she makes Beca smile.

“Pleeeeassse, Chlo,” Beca whined.

“Oh, okay,” Chloe conceded. “So-Umm… if you were an animal, what animal would you be?”

“Umm... I don’t know, a wolf, so people would leave me alone. Because, you know, wolves are badass.”

Chloe looked at the younger woman for a couple heartbeats, and then began to giggle. Beca looked at her as if she had gone crazy, but didn’t want to waste a question. Instead she took another drink and asked, “What animal do you see yourself as?”

It took Chloe a second or two to regain enough composure to stifle her giggles. She said, “Come on, Becs, you can’t just repeat my questions.”

“We already talked about it, there’s no rule against it, so answer my question.”

Chloe thought about it for a couple heartbeats, and then got a rather sly look on her face. Beca actually leaned back, as she whispered, “Uh-Oh.”

“I see myself as a fox, all beautiful and graceful, and you know,” she pointed to her hair, “Red.”

Beca felt herself nodding in agreement with the _‘Fox’_ answer.

Chloe, however, wasn’t done, “but I don’t see you as a wolf.”

“No?”

“Nope,” Chloe reiterated, shaking her head from side to side.

“What?”

“You’re not a wolf.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes.”

“Nope.”

“Fine! Then what pray tell, am I?”

“Hmm… let me see.” Chloe makes a show of studying Beca, then declared, “You’re a bunny rabbit.”

“A what?!”

“You’re like a big cuddly bunny. You’re like my big fluffy cuddly bunny.”

“I’m-I’m a… what?”

“You’re like a nice, soft, cuddly, and warm, and did I mention cuddly, and fluffy bunny,” Chloe explained as if it was there for all the world to see. Then she realizes, “You’re like Thumper!”

“As in Bambi?”

“YES!”

“Umm-what-No!”

“What?” Chloe asked feigning innocence. “I’m a huge fan of Thumper, and I’m a huge fan of you,” Chloe said as if it only went to reason, before she planted a quick kiss to the tip of Beca’s nose.

This takes away Beca’s ability to immediately respond.

When Beca finally regained her ability to talk, “Hmmpf. I’m not soft and cuddly. I’m a...”

“Badass,” Chloe finished. She laughs, which gets Beca to laugh. Chloe then points to her roommate. “Your turn.”

“Umm, oh, I have one, umm-hiking in the mountains or scuba diving?”

Chloe didn’t miss a beat, “Scuba diving.” She then added mischievously, “You know how much I love to get wet.”

Beca downed entire glass of wine, to cover her blush. She pointed to Chloe, “Your turn.”

Chloe asked, “Do you miss living with Fat Amy?”

“I do and I don’t,” Beca answered as she poured herself more wine. She offered more to Chloe.

“Explain.” Chloe held out her glass for more.

“I miss having her around, I miss her antics,” Beca answered. She then said, “I don’t miss how on top of each other we were, and I don’t miss her antics.”

“If I would have moved out, and the same question was asked, but about me, would your answer be the same?” Chloe asked after taking a drink.

Beca shook her head in the negative. “No. I would only miss you.”

Beca and Chloe both drank, to cover their awkwardness.

Chloe chose to ask the next question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Beca thought about this, she absently ran a damp finger along the edge of the glass, making it hum. She then said, “I see myself in LA. Still making a go of the whole solo career, but transitioning to more producing again.”

Chloe wasn’t sure what to think of that answer. She wants only the best for Beca, but she wasn’t sure she would be welcome to follow. She would want to, but only if asked. Before she could stop herself, she asked, “Would anyone be with you?”

“Yes.”

Beca answered immediately, without thought, because of course she wouldn’t go to LA alone. “Would you want to move with me?”

Chloe drank deeply before answering, and she noted Beca doing the same. “Yes.”

“Do you regret that nothing happened between you and Colorado?”

Confused by the sudden question, and not sure what Colorado had to do with anything, Chloe could only say, “Huh?”

“You know, soldier boy, Colorado, or was it Chino?” Beca spilled half the contents of her wine as she swung her hand about.

“Oh!” Chloe said in realization, “You mean _Chicago_!”

“Yeah, him,” Beca said dismissively, then mumbled, “stupid name.”

“No,” Chloe answered. When Beca looked at her confused, she clarified, “Chicago, I don’t regret that nothing happened between him and I.”

“How come?”

“It was nice to feel like I was wanted, that I still had it,” Chloe explained. “But it was always going to be a short time affair. I wasn’t going to move to Europe, and he wasn’t leaving the army.”

Beca seemed rather pleased with that answer. Chloe then asked, “What about you and Theo?”

Beca actually spit out the wine she had been drinking. “Ewwwww-NO!”

Chloe couldn’t help but giggle at Beca’s reaction. The petite brunette completely discombobulated by the very notion.

“No. Just No! Gross!”

“He wasn’t that bad,” Chloe giggled.

“He looked like a turtle,” Beca said matter-of-factly.

“So, no turtles, but what do you want?” Chloe asked.

“You-I don’t know, good question. Umm-let me think about that,” Beca quickly covered up her almost faux pas.

It didn’t go unnoticed however. “Come on, Becs, what do you want in someone?”

Beca tried to deflect. “Isn’t it my turn?”

“Nope,” Chloe shook her head. “Answer the question, Mitchell.”

“Have we passed the twenty-question mark yet?” Beca asked plaintively.

“That was nineteen, answer,” demanded Chloe.

“You made that up, there’s no way you kept track,” Beca argued.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on.

“You’re stalling,” accused Chloe. “Answer the question.”

“I don't want to answer the question, because I'll give a dumb answer when I do,” whined Beca.

“What's the answer?”

“Ummm…”

“Just answer, already!”

“You,” Beca finally said. “I want someone like you.” Beca’s eyes grow wide, as she realizes what she just said out loud. So shocked by her response, she missed Chloe’s eyes growing, too. The redhead however recovered quicker.

“You were right Beca,” Chloe said solemnly. “That was a dumb answer.” Beca looked so shocked by Chloe’s bluntness, her crestfallen features didn’t allow Chloe to keep up the tease. “So, for the twentieth and final question, see if you can give a better answer.”

Beca looked up into Chloe’s eyes, which were warm, and affectionate, and full of love. “Why would you want someone like me, when you can have me?”

Chloe’s answer rendered Beca speechless. Her eyes were double the biggest they had ever been. Her mouth was partially open, as if she was about to say something, but had lost all ability to speak.

Her whole brain had frozen, and it took a second or an eternity for it to reboot. When it did, a million things came through for her to say, but she only managed to get out, “O…” before she was interrupted by the feeling of lips pressing onto hers.

Chloe pressed her lips to Beca’s mouth and kissed her with purpose, determined to finally make her feelings known to the woman she had been in love with for years.

It took the petite brunette roughly two heartbeats to begin kissing Chloe back, but when she did, she did with love and abandon.

Both women found themselves lost in the moment as the world around them began to fade away. They didn’t even notice the gentle hum of the air conditioning come back on.

Lost in their world, they explored a new frontier in their relationship; one they had been circumnavigating for too long.

~~~~


End file.
